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This family contains a single genus (Heterodontus) with eight species that occur circumglobally, except for Central Pacific. Three species occur in the tropical eastern Pacific. Hornsharks are small, easily recognizable sharks distinguished by a squarish head and a stout, sharp spine at the beginning of each dorsal fin. They have five gill slits, the last three over the pectoral base. The tail is asymmetric.

These sharks are slow moving animals, often seen resting on the bottom amongst rocks or weeds. Horn sharks are oviparous. They lay unusual, large, spiral-flanged egg cases, usually among rocky crevices. The young are generally over 14 cm long at hatching. Hornsharks' diets consist mainly of benthic invertebrates including sea urchins, crabs, shrimps, abalone and other gastropods, oysters, polychaetes, and occasional small fishes. These sharks are generally harmless, but will pursue and bite if provoked by a diver.

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Compagno, L.J.V., 1999., Checklist of living elasmobranchs. In Hamlett W.C. (ed.) Sharks, skates, and rays: the biology of elasmobranch fishes., The John Hopkins University Press:471-498.

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Love, M.S., Mecklenburg, C.W., Mecklenburg, T.A., Thorsteinson, L.K., 2005., es of the West Coast and Alaska: a checklist of North Pacific and Artic Ocena species from Baja California to the Alaska-Yukon border., U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Resources Division, 288pp.